Preface

Supported by I-Shou University and Xi’an University of Technology, the 7th International Conference on Water Resource and Environment (WRE2021) was successfully held online via Microsoft Teams Meeting from November 1-4, 2021. About 150 participants from 31 countries and areas, including United Kingdom, Uruguay, Romania, China, Russia, Germany, Thailand, Japan, India, Malaysia, United States, South Africa, Portugal, Canada, Indonesia, Norway, Poland, Vietnam, Philippines, Greece, Slovakia, Uzbekistan, Italy, etc., have joined the conference. The technical program of WRE2021 comprised 4 keynote speeches, 24 invited speeches, 72 oral presentations and 21 poster presentations. Two welcome speeches were delivered separately by the Conference General Chair Prof. Jiwei Zhu from Xi’an University of Technology (lasted for 10 minutes) and the Technical Program Committee Chair Prof. Chih-Huang Weng from I-Shou University (lasted for 10 minutes). Four keynote speeches were delivered by Emeritus Prof. S. A. Abbasi from Pondicherry University (India), Prof. Dominic C. Y. Foo from University of Nottingham Malaysia (Malaysia), Prof. Teik-Thye Lim from Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) and Assoc. Prof. Rengui Jiang from Xi’an University of Technology (China), each keynote speech was lasted for 45 minutes including questions and answers. List of WRE2021 Scientific Committee Members are available in the pdf.

Integrated Evaluations of Resource and Environment Carrying Capacity of the Huaihe River Ecological and Economic Belt in China

The evaluations of resource and environment carrying capacity and territorial development suitability, also referred to as “double evaluations”, have been taken by China as an important direction in territorial space planning. Based on the evaluation of resource and environment carrying capacity, the double evaluations can contribute to protecting ecological safety and territorial safety and promoting regional sustainable development. The focus of this study was to integratedly evaluate the resource and environment carrying capacity of the Huaihe River Ecological and Economic Belt. First, the overall weights of the factors at the dimension level and the index level in the established integration evaluation system were calculated with the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) method; and then, using the linear weighted function, the overall resource and environment carrying capacities of 25 cities in the belt were calculated. On that basis, the resource and environment carrying capacity evaluation model was established. Through model analysis, this study comprehensively investigated the resource and environment carrying capacity of the Huaihe River Eco-economic Belt and provided a foundation for the future territorial space planning and layout of the Huaihe River Eco-economic Belt.

Temporal and spatial evolution and obstacle diagnosis of resource and environment carrying capacity in the Loess Plateau

Natural resources are scarce in the Loess Plateau, and the ecological environment is fragile. Sustainable development requires special attention to resource and environmental carrying capacity (RECC). This study selected 24 representative cities in five natural areas of the Loess Plateau; used the entropy-weight-based TOPSIS method to evaluate and analyze the RECC of each city and region from 2013 to 2018; established a diagnosis model to identify the obstacle factors restricting the improvement of RECC; and constructed the theoretical framework of the RECC system mechanism. The results show that the RECC of the Loess Plateau is increasing in general but is relatively small. The environmental and social subsystems have the highest and lowest carrying capacities, respectively. There is an evident contradiction between economic development and the environment. Population density, investment in technological innovation, per capita sown area, and per capita water resources are the main obstacles affecting the improvement of RECC in the Loess Plateau. Such evaluations and diagnoses can support ecological civilization and sustainable development.

Research on Resources and Environment of Vietnam’s Higher Education System in Accordance with U21 Ranking of National Higher Education Systems

The network of research universities - Universitas 21 (U21) has developed a global ranking which examines 24 measures of performance indicators across four areas: Resources, Environment, Connectivity, and Output (called U21 Ranking of National Higher Education Systems) to assess the national higher education systems. In which, Resources and Environment are input variables, Connectivity and Output are outcomes. This paper will study Vietnam's policy environment and resources, corresponding to two input measures of the ranking: Resources and Environment. The paper also reviews the experiences of some countries, the current situation of resources, and the impact of the policies on national higher education compared to Vietnam. The authors have proposed six solutions on Resource and Environment to improve the position of the Vietnamese higher education system with the expectation that the higher education system of Vietnam will create positive changes and be in the Top 50 best national higher education systems of U21 Ranking.

Temporal and Spatial Evolution and Obstacle Diagnosis of Resource and Environment Carrying Capacity in the Loess Plateau

In the Loess Plateau, natural resources are scarce and the ecological environment is fragile. Sustainable development requires special attention paid to resource and environmental carrying capacity (RECC). This paper selects 24 representative cities in five natural areas of the Loess Plateau, uses the entropy-weight-based TOPSIS method to evaluate and analyze the RECC of each city and region from 2013 to 2018, establishes a diagnosis model to identify the obstacle factors restricting the improvement of RECC and constructs the theoretical framework of RECC' system mechanism. Results show that the RECC of Loess Plateau is increasing in general but relatively small. The environmental and social subsystem have the highest and lowest carrying capacity respectively. There is an obvious contradiction between economic development and the environment. Population density, investment in technological innovation, per capita sown area of crops, and per capita water resources are the main obstacles affecting the improvement of RECC in the Loess Plateau. Such evaluation and diagnosis could support ecological civilization and sustainable development.